Hellfire Assault (Hellfire Citadel) Strategy Guide

Hellfire Assault Strategy Guide

Siegemaster Mar'takContracted EngineerGorebound FelcasterIron DragoonIron DragoonHellfire CannonHellfire CannonHellfire Assault is the first encounter of the Cittadella del Fuoco Infernale raid in 6.2 Warlords of Draenor. This encounter takes place in the Iron Bulwark; players must fight through a huge defending army, then use the Cannone del Fuoco Infernales to blast down the Porta del Fuoco Infernale Rinforzata. Maestra d'Assedio Mar'tak and her slew of Fel-Infused Siege Weapons and Hellfire Reinforcements will attempt to destroy the Hellfire Cannons, putting an end to the raid's attempt to breach the Hellfire Citadel.

This Cittadella del Fuoco Infernale raid strategy guide provides an overview of killing Hellfire Assault for raid leaders as well as specific tips for tanks, healers, and dps. It also includes information on harmful trash, and screenshots of harmful abilities.

This guide provides information on the boss on all difficulties--LFR, Normal, Heroic, and Mythic.

This boss is accessible on June 30th on LFR difficulty, as part of the Hellbreach wing.

If you are looking for general advice on how to play your character better, check out our Class Guides. Looking to log a fight and improve your performance? Go to Warcraft Logs for logs, advanced fight analysis, replays, and more!

We also have a series of Quick Tips guides for Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, Healers and Tanks! These guides don't give you an in-depth discussion of every strategy and every ability, they just give you what you need to know to get through the encounter largely unscathed.

Notable Trash Mobs

Iron Bulwark

The Iron Bulwark area of Hellfire Citadel has a substantial amount of trash. Once players clear the area of trash, Siegemaster Mar'tak will send a large wave of trash running along the ramparts towards the left-side Hellfire Cannon. After players defeat this wave, a similar wave will approach the right-side Hellfire Cannon.

Gorebound Terrors cast Fel Volley non-stop, dealing very high raid damageSeveral of the mobs that players will encounter in the Hellfire Assault trash will reappear in the boss fight as Hellfire Reinforcements, and will be described in detail here. The most important of these enemies in the actual boss fight is the Gorebound Felcaster.

While fighting this trash, players should be careful not to pull too many enemies at once, particularly when Gorebound Felcasters are present. The kill priority should be as follows:

Gorebound Terrors

Any mini-boss in the pack

Hulking Berserkers

Gorebound Cauterizers

Gorebound Felcasters

The remaining mobs are not very dangerous and can be killed with AoE and incidental cleave

Once all the trash is cleared, Siegemaster Mar'tak and several accompanying adds will enter the Iron Bulwark. Players should stay back, near the Cannons, to avoid prematurely beginning the encounter.Return to Table of Contents

Hellfire Assault Encounter Mechanics

Hellfire Cannons will shoot Hellfire Roundsat the Reinforced Hellfire Door to break it downThis encounter is notable in that it presents different mechanics for LFR, Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulties. The majority of this guide will describe the Normal mode mechanics; additional information on other difficulties can be found in the LFR, Heroic, and Mythic difficulty sections of this guide.

The main objective of the Hellfire Assault encounter is to break down the Reinforced Hellfire Door that is barring players from entering the Hellfire Citadel.

This is achieved by destroying the Iron Horde's Fel-Infused Siege Weapons, which spawn about once per minute and drive towards the Hellfire Cannons

Each Siege Weapon that players destroy will drop a box of Munizioni di Vilfuoco that persists for 90 seconds or until picked up

Players can pick up the Munizioni di Vilfuoco and carry it to one of the two Hellfire Cannons flanking the gate through which players entered the raid

The Munizioni di Vilfuoco will automatically be thrown to the Cannon when the player moves close enough to it

This gives the Hellfire Cannon enough ammunition to fire Colpi di Fuoco Infernales at the Reinforced Hellfire Door four times

24 total shots, or 6 boxes of Munizioni di Vilfuoco, are required to destroy the Reinforced Hellfire Door and complete the encounter

If a player dies while carrying Munizioni di Vilfuoco, the box will drop near the player's corpse, and another player can pick it up.

Felfire Artillery attacking the Hellfire CannonThe Iron Horde will be defending the Citadel by attempting to destroy the Hellfire Cannons that players are using to break down the Reinforced Hellfire Door.

This fight requires players to quickly prioritize adds based on their threat level to the Hellfire Cannons and to the raid, is heavy on AoE, and has moderate movement requirements.Return to Table of Contents

Siegemaster Mar'tak

Targeted by Howling AxeAt the start of the encounter, players will be faced with a mini-boss, Siegemaster Mar'tak, who is accompanied by a Gorebound Felcaster, a Contracted Engineer, and two Iron Dragoons.

Siegemaster Mar'tak will frequently create a Onda d'Urto, facing a random player and summoning a cone of earthen spikes

Players struck by the spikes will take heavy damage and be knocked back

Mar'tak will also periodically target three players with Ascia Ululante

When the Ascia Ululante debuff wears off, she will throw her axe at the indicated players, traveling to each target before returning to Siegemaster

Players struck in this fashion take heavy damage and will splash that damage onto other players within 8 yards

The three marked players must be sure to move away from the rest of the raid and each other before the Ascia Ululante debuff fades

Mar'tak also buffs herself and nearby enemy units with Presenza Motivante, the effect of which increases over time

Fel-Infused Siege Weapons

After a short time, Fel-Infused Siege Weapons will enter the battle, heading toward a Hellfire Cannon with the intent to destroy it. There are three types of Siege Weapon vehicles that players will deal with on the Normal difficulty of this encounter.

Except while carrying Munizioni di Vilfuoco to the Hellfire Cannons, or picking up adds that slipped past the tank, players should stay away from the Cannons to avoid taking incidental damage from these effects

Players must kill these Siege Weapons as quickly as possible, and carry the Munizioni di Vilfuoco to the Hellfire Cannon so the Cannons can shoot the Reinforced Hellfire Door. Destroying the Reinforced Hellfire Door will complete the encounter.Return to Table of Contents

Hellfire Assault Strategy Summary

Siege Weapon Schedule, Normal

Wave

Siege Weapon Type

1

Felfire Flamebelcher

2

Felfire Crusher

3

Felfire Artillery

4

Felfire Crusher

5

Felfire Flamebelcher

6

Felfire Artillery

7

Felfire Crusher

The raid's initial focus should be on quickly AoEing down the Dragoons, Engineer, and Felcaster accompanying Siegemaster Mar'tak, then reducing Mar'tak's health to 50% before the first Siege Weapon reaches the raid. Once Mar'tak is gone, players' kill order should be:

Whichever Siege Weapon is currently active, especially if it is a Felfire Crusher

Gorebound Terror

Hulking Berserker

Contracted Engineer

Gorebound Felcaster

Iron Dragoon

Bolded enemies should be considered "high priority".

Damage on the Gorebound Felcasters must be managed carefully, so that only one Metamorfosi Demoniaca occurs at a time. This requires the most coordination of any mechanic in the fight: Pick up Felfire Munitions

Between Siege Weapon spawns, the raid leader should mark a Felcaster to push

Once the marked Felcaster has transformed into a Terror, all DPS must kill it quickly before beginning to kill another Felcaster

It is very difficult to heal the raid through two Gorebound Terrors at the same time, and will drain healers' mana

DPS players should, where possible, line up their major DPS CDs with the Felfire Crusher vehicles, as these are the most dangerous - Crushers will very quickly kill a Hellfire Cannon, wiping the raid, if the Crusher reaches the Cannon.

When to use Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp

Brama di Sangue/Eroismo/Distorsione Temporale is best used at the start of the encounter to force Siegemaster Mar'tak to flee well before the first set of Fel-Infused Siege Weapons spawns. This eliminates the Onda d'Urto and Ascia Ululante mechanics from the fight. The earlier Mar'tak flees, the more time the raid has to clean up her accompanying adds before the hard swap to the first Felfire Flamebelcher.

When to use Legendary Ring Effects

The DPS legendary ring effect is best used to quickly destroy the Siege Weapon spawns. This can be most efficiently achieved by activating the ring while there are many other adds to kill, but while the Siege Weapons are en route or have already reached the raid. If the ring is used at the start of the fight, under Brama di Sangue/Eroismo/Distorsione Temporale, it will come off CD well after the second wave of Siege Weapons, but also well before the third wave. Players could hold the legendary ring effect for the third wave (the Felfire Artillery) and then use it again on CD to deal with the fifth and seventh waves.

The healer legendary ring can be used to help the raid survive the Raffica di Vilfuoco spam that occurs after Gorebound Felcasters use Metamorfosi Demoniaca to transform into Gorebound Terrors. This will have the side effect of putting up powerful shields that can help the raid survive the next Gorebound Terror, or other incidental raid damage.

The tank legendary ring can be used to mitigate damage from Gorebound Berserkers when the current tank has high stacks of Contusione.

Looking For Raid Difficulty

On the Looking for Raid difficulty of this encounter, Felfire Crushers do not have the Vampata mechanic, making them much less dangerous to the raid.Return to Table of Contents

Heroic Difficulty

Siege Weapon Schedule, Heroic

Wave

Siege Weapon Type

1

Felfire Flamebelcher

2

Felfire Crusher

3

Felfire Artillery

4

Felfire Demolisher

5

Felfire Flamebelcher

6

Felfire Artillery

7

Felfire Demolisher

8

Felfire Flamebelcher

On Heroic difficulty, the second and third Felfire Crushers are replaced by Demolitore del Vilfuocos. An updated Siege Weapon schedule can be found in the table to the right.

Shortly thereafter, the Demolisher fires mortars that land in a teardrop-shaped pattern, stretching from the Demolisher to the reticule

Players within 3 yards of these mortars will take moderate to heavy Fire damage

Several seconds later, the Demolisher then fires another, larger mortar at the center of the targeting reticule

This mortar will damage all players within 100 yards, but players can reduce the amount of damage they take by moving far away from the mortar's impact point

Damage-reduction CDs or minor healing CDs may be useful in healing the raid back up after this damage

Note that Nova d'Assedio does not deal damage to the Hellfire Cannons - only to the raid. These Siege Weapons can thus be deprioritized if other, more important targets are active at the time, such as a Gorefiend Terror.

Siege Nova first shoots a mortar volley around the reticule

Then fires a large mortar dealing raid-wide damage

Additionally, the Contracted Engineers gain a new ability, Riparazione, that will channel a healing beam on a nearby injured Siege Weapon. Players must interrupt the channel to ensure they can kill the Siege Weapons quickly and minimize damage to the Hellfire Cannons.

On Mythic Difficulty, the Fel-Infused Siege Weapons spawn more frequently, and often two will spawn at the same time. When this occurs, one of the vehicles will emerge from the right side of the room to attack the right Hellfire Cannon, and the other will emerge from the left side of the room to attack the left Hellfire Cannon. See table for the Mythic Siege Weapon schedule, including which side of the room each vehicle spawns on.

The Mythic encounter also introduces a new Siege Weapon type, the Trasportatore del Vilfuoco, which delivers a regiment of a dozen Iron Dragoons.

Felfire Transporter

As illustrated in the table, the section of the fight from 3 minutes in until 5 minutes in is marked by a reduction in frequency and number of Siege Weapons. These vehicles will concentrate in the center of the room, and also bring with them the two mini-bosses that players fought in the trash before the encounter.

The first Felfire Transporter carries Grand Corruptor U'rogg

Grand Corruptor U'rogg has the same abilities that he used in the trash, although Nova della Corruzione is now much more dangerous

In addition, Aspirazione della Corruzione will target two players with each cast, and it now heals U'rogg for approximately 3 times as much health as it dealt in damage

During this portion of the fight, U'rogg should take priority over everything else except the Felfire Crusher or an active Gorebound Terror

Healers should focus on healing off the Aspirazione della Corruzione healing-absorption debuff quickly, as multiple sources of raid damage occur during this portion of the fight

While U'rogg is still alive, players will also have to contend with a Felfire Crusher. This should take prioirty over U'rogg, as if it reaches a Hellfire Cannon, the raid will instantly wipe.

Grute's arrival via Felfire DemolisherGrute is delivered by the Felfire Demolisher that spawns nearly 4 minutes into the encounter. He is jammed into the barrel of the Demolisher, and will be explosively launched towards the raid.

Players must kill at least the 10th wave of Siege Weapons in order to complete the encounter, making this an approximately 7-minute fight.

DPS legendary rings should be used nearly on cooldown to deal with the Siege Weapons, as the damage that the Weapons deal to the Hellfire Cannons is very high, and allowing them to live too long - or overlap at all - will likely result in a raid wipe.

Commenti

Commento di Mightylorddk

Commento di Anrisacia

With the Felfire Braziers created by the Gorebound Cauterizers, can they be targeted and destroyed, or do they have a duration that you simply have to wait out?

Commento di numtefalo

it's a party! do mecanics and you'll be fine...

Commento di calipso88

Awesomee !

Commento di Naelina22

I'm seeing conflicting information in various guides I've looked up. Here it says that the Engineers don't get the ability to Repair until Heroic difficulty, but other guides have said they Repair on Normal as well. Could someone confirm?

Also, some guides are saying that losing 1 Hellfire Cannon is a wipe, while others say it isn't unless you lose both. Seems like PTR had losing 1 as a wipe, but they changed that for live?

Commento di Dayani

6/26 - Updated to note that 7 boxes of Felfire Munitions are required to open the Reinforced Hellfire Door on Heroic difficulty.